


Sanctuary

by deamonbaby



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Blushing, F/M, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Naked Cuddling, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 11:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20114269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deamonbaby/pseuds/deamonbaby
Summary: The story of Solei's and Muriel's relationship. Doesn't really have a plot but we'll follow how their relationship grows with fluff and smut!





	Sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> “Muri…” was all she got out before her legs once again collapsed underneath her. Muriel only had to take two steps to catch her, making her clutch his big arms to steady herself. Out of breath and exhausted she rested her forehead on his chest, legs shaking underneath her.
> 
> “What happened? why are you-” he retracts his hand from her back when she winces and looks at it, eyes wide “...bleeding?”

Solei had gone to bed early but kept waking up by horrible nightmares that she couldn’t remember. Not knowing what to do but not wanting to stay in bed she walked out into the forest. She surprised herself by not following the ever so familiar path to Muriel’s home but instead just walked around aimlessly letting the cold breeze and the fluttering of leaves above her head calm her down. Yet she couldn’t shake the weird feeling under her skin. Naively she shook it off as being aftershocks from the nightmares, but then she noticed the air getting colder as she began seeing shadows move between the trees.  
Looking around she came to the frightful realisation that she didn’t know where she was. She began hearing chilling moans, low and barely noticeable but cutting the air sharper than any knife. Without letting her fear grab a hold of her and pin her down, she turned away from the sound and began running.

Only after a few steps, she could feel her heart beating harder as it began making its way to her throat, threatening to jump out. She struggled to keep her legs from collapsing as her body shook violently. A dark presence followed her through the woods, licking her heels as she frantically tried to blink away the rain in her eyes as to not stumble on the many roots covering the uneven forest ground. But then her body failed her as she was trying to make a sharp turn, her legs couldn’t handle it and made her stumble, her back hit the strong stem of a tree and then she fell to the ground with a damp thud. She heard an icy shriek but only managed to see a flash of white before it disappeared by something big and dark pushing it into the shadows. Despite the pain she managed to get herself on her feet, brushing away her wet bangs with her scraped hand to see the all too familiar and desperately wonderful sight of her favourite yellow-eyed wolf running up to her. Inanna gave out a quick whine before gently nudging Solei’s elbow with her snout coaxing her to keep moving.

“Yeah, show the way please.”

Inanna ran ahead guiding Solei through the forest, every so often looking back to make sure she kept up. Soon they entered a small clearing where Solei was once again met with a familiar silhouette. Inanna yipped loudly as they approached the big hooded man with fast steps. Muriel turned around first looking at Inanna, worry clear on his face which only multiplied once he caught sight of Solei lingering behind.

“Muri…” was all she got out before her legs once again collapsed underneath her. Muriel only had to take two steps to catch her, making her clutch his big arms to steady herself. Out of breath and exhausted she rested her forehead on his chest, legs shaking underneath her.

“What happened? why are you-” he retracts his hand from her back when she winces and looks at it, eyes wide “...bleeding?”

Inanna keeps running around anxiously around their feet, yips quickly turning into impatient growls. Muriel opens his mouth but right then he hears it. Feels it.  
With a frown, he sweeps Solei up in his arms ever so gently before making their fast escape to the hut.

With Inanna at his side, they make their way into the house with soaked furs and heated breaths. Closing and locking the door, Muriel promptly puts Solei down on a chair and takes a step back looking her up and down, his eyes almost angry looking with worry.

“I don’t know why…” Solei began explaining between ragged breaths, unprompted “I didn’t know what I was doing, where I was going… and before I knew it I was… lost… hearing that awful scream.”

A large shudder wracked her body and she winced as she felt white hot pain spread through her back.

Muriel stepped closer, shaking hands hovering above her shoulders unsure and hesitant.

“Did he… get to you?”

His eyes roam her body searching for any wounds or blood. He catches sight of her hands, blue and frozen although not bleeding, but with bruises and scratches that blooms up to her forearms. Solei explains that she only fell and how Inanna flew in and rescued her. He kneels down in front of her, face burning but determined he gently open her palms and observe the damage around them.

“I need to treat you” he says, standing up and grabbing a few herbs and coming back with a bucket of water and a rag.

“You don’t have to do that, Muriel…”

He doesn’t answer as he situates himself in front of her, head only slightly below hers. His big hands grab her own closer to himself with a gentleness that still makes her speechless. He wets the rag before crushing some herbs and rubs them into the cloth. Feeling guilty for making him save her because of her own foolishness, she bites her lips before slowly pulling her hands back.

“Muriel, please... I can-”

“No.” he interrupts, his face scarlet as usual but with a dark voice suddenly baring a tone of authority that makes Solei clasp her mouth shut.

Relenting, she watches as he brings her hands back to rest on his knee. Holding them one at a time to wash away the dirt and softly dab with the other side of the herb soaked cloth over all her small wounds and cuts. His focused eyes dart up to hers now and again whenever he cleans one of the more open wounds that makes her wince. Once he deems them clean, he dips the rag once again before this time taking a handful of herbs and spreading them on the cloth to then bring it up to her face. Solei who has been watching his hand movements with interest looks at his hand and back to him quizzically for a moment before going “oh!” and takes a deep breath. She notices Muriel’s lips twitch with the faintest ghost of a smile. Her stomach flutter at the sight so she closes her eyes and focuses as she lets out a warm gust of air ever so slowly, tickling Muriel’s hand and making the herbs on the material light up ever so slightly in a magical lilac glow. When she opens her eyes again she sees Muriel’s eyes lingering on her lips, brows pinched but eyes in awe. But the moment lasts for only a second as he immediately stands up and turns his head away.

“I need to look at your back, so…” he gestures vaguely towards her “so, you have to… you know…”

Solei can’t help the small smile that appears on her lips watching the giant shuffle around all muscles and shyness. A pleasant warm spreads through her heart as she realises how much she truly adores him.

She figures it won’t be that hard to remove her dress despite the injury since she can simply pull it down by her shoulders. However, as she grabs the straps she immediately gets reminded that she actually just spent hours out in the freezing rain with not much more than her summer dress. Her cold hands now free from grime and mud but pale and blue at her fingertips shakes violently and her cold-soaked clothes cling to her freezing skin, making it impossible for her to pull down the dress.

That doesn’t stop her from trying though. She takes a big breath in an attempt to stable herself and then as stupid as she gets sometimes, she tries to remove it quick like a band-aid. A high pitched whine escapes her as it feels like she just ripped open her entire back. Muriel is on her in a heartbeat, stern voice asking what the hell she’s doing, but he softens quickly by the sight of her hiding her face in her hands, gritting her teeth saying “I’m so stupid, stupid, stupid!” over and over again while swinging her legs back and forth.

“y-you’re not stupid…”

Solei gives out another pained whine at Muriel’s words, shaking her head slightly. Muriel huffs and tells her to stand up. She unfolds her hands from her face slowly and Muriel’s heart tugs at the sight of her watery eyes and flushed cheeks. He grabs a hold of her arms, letting her hold on to them while he helps her up on wobbly feet, ultimately grabbing her hips to keep her upheld.

“Are you okay?” His quiet voice soothing her pain. She closes her eyes and sniffs, nodding a few times.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It just… hurts…”

He holds her like that for a moment, letting her breathe slowly while still keeping her eyes closed. He sees now, and feels, how hard she’s shaking. How cold she is. He knows she should change out of these clothes, completely. But he could barely tell her to remove her dress, how is he supposed to tell her to get naked?

Muriel clears his throat before guiding her closer to the fire, setting her down so her back is against him and they have the fire to their left. Despite not being cold Muriel’s hands shake as he takes a hold of the hems of either side of her dress and gently drags it down her shoulders, watching her tense up but then relaxing again when the garment pools around her hips. He swallows as he sees the big cut in her back, still bleeding having coated almost the entirety of her dress. It’s bigger than he thought and surprised she got something like this just from scraping against a tree. It starts right underneath her right shoulder blade and gets bigger then it jumps to the right and trails down far enough to make Muriel’s ears burn.

“Is it… bad?”

Solei’s shaking voice gets Muriel moving. Looking pointedly down on the floor he tugs the dress down completely and out from underneath her, letting it lay in a heap next to them for the time being. He grabs a thick fur blanket he had laying next to the fireplace and gave it to Solei who hugged it tight against her front.

“Try to keep warm until I’m done”

He watches her nose scrunch up as a shiver wrack her body, but she manages a small nod. He reaches for the herb infused cloth he’d put down earlier. Feeling that it’s still wet he begins to carefully wipe her back, starting from high up on her shoulder blades and moving down wiping the blood off before moving the cloth over the open wound. She shudders every so often but Muriel can’t tell whether it’s from the cold or the sting from the herb mixture weaving her wound together. He’s as gentle as ever but surprisingly efficient since he’s used to tending to his own wounds.

When he’s done the bleeding has stopped completely and her pain simply a dull ache, only a ghost of soft red skin is left to expose a history of an injury. Without any words Muriel grabs another blanket and scoops Solei up with it, carrying her to his bed where he lays her down. She immediately crawls under the existing pelts and pulls her legs up to her chest. Inanna saunters over and jumps up next to her, laying her head on her side and staying as close as she can. Muriel smiles at the scene before him and Inanna turns her head looking at him expectingly.

He ignores her in favour of putting more wood on the fire and as he moves to hang up Solei's dress he comes to the realization that he too had been out in that weather and is wearing equally soaked clothes. He looks down to where the large scarf hanging on his shoulders end, watching big droplets fall on his feet and the wooden floor. He hears Inanna make a weird sound in the back of her throat and he just knows she's laughing at him. He wouldn't have been able to concentrate on healing Solei's wounds if he too had been naked anyway, so… He shakes his head. Feeling his dry fringe fall over his face.

He glances towards the bed making sure Solei is still under the furs before beginning to undress, rosy cheeks flowering his face despite no one watching. He takes his and Solei's clothes and hangs them up to dry and when he's done he stands in front of the fire in only his underwear staring into it.

See, the thing is…

Muriel doesn't exactly own any spare clothes since whenever he would get in a similar situation as this he would simply hang them up to dry and not walk outside until they were done drying. Underwear was the only thing he had more than one of. And he didn't even own a shirt. And that green scarf his peach coloured friend bought him not so long ago is the only new thing he’s added to his inventory for quite some time. He doesn’t even own a closet, he simply keeps his underwear in a drawer and just hangs his clothes on his furniture when he isn’t wearing it.

He turns his head to glance at his predicament currently curled underneath all his pelts. He doesn’t have any clothes to give her and even so, she’s frozen enough that it wouldn’t make that big of a difference. He walks over to the bed soundlessly, seeing Inanna curled around a small bump with a tuft of peach coloured hair poking out at the top. He speaks her name softly, watching as the bump stirs and the top of her head peak out from under the pelts. Her eyes aren’t watery anymore to his relief, but now his heart tugs for a different reason. Her barely-open eyes blink up at him lazily. She’s too cute. She’s way too cute.

“It’s still cold.” she says, voice muffled underneath the pelts as she speaks “Aren’t you cold?”

“I’m fine,” he says and carefully begins pulling the pelts up to climb inside before he starts thinking about this too much. Solei shivers from the outside air and ducks her head down again. Muriel situates himself behind her, putting his hands on her back, too scared to press himself against her. She hums appreciatively when his big hands meet her freezing skin.

“How are you so warm…?”

Muriel lets out a shaky breath and moves closer. Chest only millimetres from her back now he steels himself- but then Solei takes a hold of his hand on her hip and drapes it over her, pulling it up to her face. Muriel’s heart goes crazy and he can feel himself getting warm all the way down his neck. His eyes are wide staring into the darkness, having his chest fully pressed against her back and his hand… cupping her face. His brain is short-circuiting as he feels his arm laying snugly against her skin, between her breasts to then cradle her face. She's holding his arm with both hands, one high on his forearm right underneath his wrist and the other holding the back of his hand. He jerks slightly when he feels her cold nose and cheeks nuzzle into his palm, even feeling the smile on her lips.

“what are y-you doing?” he stutters into her neck, shutting his eyes hard.

Solei continues to nuzzle his palm, gently pushing it closer to her face with her own hands.

“you’re so warm, Muriel… so warm…”

He then remembers why he’s even doing this in the first place, so despite his raging heart he carefully presses himself closer, draping himself around her small frame.

“Is this okay?” he whispers, his voice shaky and barely there.

“Yeah,” she whispers back, her lips moving against his palm and tickling his thumb.

Muriel stays like that holding her tight against him, breathing in her dewy smell at the base of her neck. After a while, he notices a change in her breathing rhythm. Curiously he pulls the furs down to her shoulder, just enough to see her face. He peers over, heart swelling at the sight of her serene expression. She fell asleep while nuzzling his hand, making him realise he can just… with the tiniest of movements bring his thumb to her parted lips and gently sweep over the soft flesh. He watches as it gives in easily and softly bounce back to place.

He’s never been this close to anyone before, never seen a person so up close. Never had anyone let him come so close. The thought used to scare him, both of being close to another person and having someone so close to him. But he finds himself leaning in, examining her lashes and how their shadows dance over her freckled cheeks. Watches her mouth move with her slow breaths.

He settles back down behind her, hand gently cradling her face, thumb caressing her cheeks and lips. He then drags his own lips experimentally up her neck and as if on instinct he closes his mouth on the base of her hairline. Burying his nose in her hair for a moment before slowly leaving a trail of kisses down her back. Suddenly succumbing to the idea of sleep, he fights his half-lidded eyes to stay open for just a little while longer, wanting to bask in this unfamiliar feeling of comfort and safety. But after a few more brush of his lips against her warming skin, he too falls asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm well aware that I didn't provide any type of character description of Solei except her hair colour but like... I don't know, I don't find it that important, but I might try to describe her a bit more in the following chapters! Also, be aware that I won't be actively writing this. I'm just gonna write it whenever I feel like it and there's a chance it'll be mostly smut hhhhhh
> 
> But anyway, thanks for reading! ily! <3


End file.
